Historical Highlight

Historical Highlight

Collection of the U.S. House of RepresentativesAbout this objectIntroduced in 1873, these small desks allowed even more Members to be crammed into the House Chamber.

The founders designed the House of Representatives to represent the people rather than the states, which each send two Members to the U.S. Senate. Article I, Section II of the Constitution provides each state at least one U.S. Representative, while the size of a state’s delegation to the House depends on its total population. Based on the 1787 national population, each House Member in the First Federal Congress (1789–1791) represented 30,000 citizens. As U.S. territory expanded and the population grew, the Membership of House of Representatives increased and individual Members’ constituencies were enlarged.